Live Reactions as I read the rest of the Gone series by Michael Grant

Caution- Proceed at your own risk- Spoilers may be ahead, but I kept it as vague as possible to not give away anything major!

This book definitely tones up the dial on the fear factor, so it is true to its name!

It is one of those books that I suspect, shows your worst fears realized. Which for this series, can be pretty daunting and downright horrifying!

The kids suspect that someone who cannot die (apparently) is on the way back and is looking for them.

The Healer, Lana, gets some inkling of the Darkness’s thoughts and knows that he is after Diana for her new connections to the dark side. How does Lana know this? She almost “hears” another characters’ voice- can the darkness sense Diana’s voice or fears because of her connection? Does this mean that the beloved Diana will go over to the Dark Side? (Pun most likely intended…?)

Will Diana’s guilt and fear lead to her downfall? She feels horrible about what she has done and greatly struggles with giving into her dark side or fighting it. Can it be stopped or does she feel it’s too late?

Penny= the queen of all fears=your worst nightmare! What’s even scarier is there is not a simple way to fight her- she can give visions of your worst nightmare to a group of kids at once, so she can fight many people at a time.

It feels so real, that it is hard to fight what you feel is happening to you, even though your head might say it is not real. She really knows how to get in your head, as she uses even what you enjoy against you, to the point of you not knowing what is really happening and doing damage to others or to yourself in the process.

But this shows that even though people may fear you, they do not respect you or love you or like you in the slightest- which is a lesson that several characters might have to learn, as they let the thirst for more power and risk and danger overtake them…

Penny is not very smart though either, as she has lost her mind. She doesn’t think things through. Her hate rules everything. She wants to be in charge and uses the fear of others to get on top, so she can get back at them and express her hatred of being rejected all those times.

So this also is stemmed in fear on her end (of others, what they think of her, not being part of the group, being alone, we all have fears…) she wanted everyone to like her and wants to get back at Caine for rejecting her. She wants to get back at Lana now as well after their showdown. But if she kills the only one who can heal people, she might be signing her own death warrant in the process in this desert wasteland with no other way of getting help if everyone is your enemy (no one else to go to in the FAYZ, is there?).

Talking about death warrants, one of them was not signed for a major character in the FAYZ after all. The consequences of this could be fatal for many of the survivors left in the FAYZ and could have some pretty far reaching consequences.

The deliciousness of the fear in this book is that anything can happen and you are shivering in anticipation (and horror) just thinking about all the things that could wrong with the new ways of life here under the barrier. Past decisions come back to haunt some of the characters and the newfound power in the FAYZ just hints of all the darkness that is coming and ever growing as life continues for the kids as they try to do what they can to survive.

The fear is not only growing on the inside of the FAYZ either.

I like how the outside world is being explored more in this book of the series. Before we only saw glimpses, now we are getting a story line that is being shown alongside of all the craziness of the FAYZ. And if what is inside is somewhat “contained,” then just imagine what the outside is like in response to the creation of the barrier. This also leads to more tension and dials up the fear as well because of the choices of those on the outside and how it will affect the kids- will those on the outside do whatever they can to help? Or will they risk the lives of the children stuck inside?

To join me as I read the series (and possibly re-read the earlier books!) comment below and share where you are in the series or if you would like to start it! It’s always more fun to read together! I want to hear your reactions as you experience life in the FAYZ- so please do share below. And if you would like to post it on your blog- please link back to your blog in your comment! I would like to share some of your posts here in the Castle!

What scared you the most as you read? What power would you want to have in the FAYZ? Who would your allies and enemies be?